By Greg Bassett

Friday, April 21, 1995 --

• State Delegate Don Hughes has crossed party lines to join Delegate Norm Conway in criticizing the way Republican state Sen. J. Lowell Stoltzfus handled the Wicomico County brew pub bill. Hughes, a Republican, said Stoltzfus was wrong to try to shift control of the brew pub licenses from the Wicomico Board of License Commissioners to the Wicomico County Council. He also agreed with Conway, a Democrat, that Stoltzfus was responsible for the bill dying in committee. Stoltzfus chaired a Senate conference committee that took no action on the bill and allowed it to die on the final day of the General Assembly. 
• A century-old water oak tree on North Division Street has been cut down because internal decay had made it a hazard. The tree – the largest water oak in the state of Maryland – was in the front yard of the home of Margaret Gaskill, whose family co-owned the former Ralph & Gaskill’s clothing store in Downtown Salisbury. James Robert Beaver of Beaver Tree Service in Salisbury led the crew which cut down the 69-foot tree, which had a 60-foot spread and a circumference of more than 11 feet.
• Dorothy Ann Hopkins Bradshaw has been named the new Director of Deer’s Head Center. Bradshaw has served as Acting Director since Dr. Robert C. Elliott retired in November 1993. The first woman to lead the state hospital center, Bradshaw was chosen after an exhaustive national search concluded with her being the state Health Department’s top choice.
• With plans for the new baseball stadium slated for Hobbs Road and Route 50 advancing through county government for approval, two problems with the stadium were discussed by the Wicomico Planning Commission. First, County Councilman and Planning Committee member Kenneth T. Matthews pointed out that the center fielder of a hypothetical minor league baseball team will need a good pair of sunglasses, because fly balls hit in his direction at early-evening games will be directly in the setting sun. Meanwhile, county Planning Director William C. Livingston said State Highway officials have voiced concerns about traffic problems that will affect Route 50 when fans depart the parking lots en masse after a game.
• The Wicomico County Council has asked state transportation officials to place a traffic signal at Route 50 and Walston Switch Road. The State Highway Administration has proposed a “continuous flow intersection” at Walston Switch, in which westbound drivers would make a U-turn at a median crossway 2,000 feet west of Walston Switch and then merge with eastbound traffic before exiting right into Wor-Wic Community College.
• Brad Absher pitched a complete game four-hitter with nine strikeouts and just one walk as the Wicomico High School baseball team beat Crisfield in a Bayside Conference Southern Division game in Salisbury. Ken Pusey, Lee Tracy and had three hits – all singles. Rob Smith scored the game’s only run in the first inning on an error. Crisfield pitcher Andrew Tawes was the losing pitcher, despite throwing a three-hitter with eight strikeouts.
• Movies playing this week in Salisbury include “Forest Gump,” “Dumb & Dumber” and “Dolores Claiborne” at the Hoyts Salisbury 6 Downtown, and “Kiss of Death,” “While You Were Sleeping” and “The Goofy Movie” at the Hoyts Centre At Salisbury.
• Cool World Aquarium in the Allenwood Shopping Center is holding a big weekend sale, with ball pythons in stock for $39.99 and iguanas for $14.99.